Giving basketball a look ahead to 2013-14

Spring football got underway today, which is pretty freaking exciting! But there won't be shoulder pads in the mix for a couple more days, and not a whole lot to report in the department, so I'm going to hold off on talking about that until after Thursday when they practice in the afternoon and we can all go and get ourselves and nice, personal look at things.

In the meantime, let's give some quick takes on USU basketball's current forecast of how next season could play out with personnel. Obviously things could change a little bit between now and maybe the middle of summer, but my guess is it would be minimal.

On paper, USU looks to be in pretty decent shape for next year, assuming they can stay healthy this next time around. It's worth taking a quick look at, so let's hit these positions really quick.

Aggies ride a big red dog to victory on senior night

Utah State opened WAC play this season with a four-point win over UTSA, with Preston Medlin and Kyisean Reed combining for 33 points. Ben Clifford and Tenale Roland weren't really factors in that game either, combining for only three points. So with that in mind, this game looked like a potentially dangerous one.

Nobody told the Aggies though...

USU came out, slowly built a small lead, slowly built on that lead, and slowly twisted the knife on the Roadrunners throughout the entire game.

It was all Clifford and Spencer Butterfield in the first half, with the two of them combining for 23 of USU's 25 points. Clifford kept on pwning n00bs in the second half, with Roland, Jarred Shaw, and even Matt Lopez getting in on the scoring.

When it all came down to it, the Aggies just kind of dominated in every area in this game. The bulk of those details are worthy of bullet points, so let's cut the crap and get to it!

NOTES

•  22 assists to only 10 turnovers!!! Happy happy, joy joy.
• Nine blocks for the team. It seems like they've been blocking the hell out of teams lately, which I'm just fine seeing more of!
• Oh hi Matt Lopez! Very nice to see you! Eight points on 4-4 shooting with two rebounds and two blocks in only six minutes will do just fine! Again, happy happy, joy joy!
• Spencer Butterfield only had three rebounds, which drops his rebounding average over the last two games to only 11.5 per game. Throw in 14 points and five assists and you've got another solid game, but really what else would you expect from him?
• Jarred Shaw seemed content to let Clifford steal the show down low tonight, but still finished with 11 points and nine boards. Next week is time for Shaw to really kick things into FYM, and remind everyone else in the WAC that he is Jarred Shaw, and they are not.
• Not a bad showing once again from Tenale Roland. He's really been a completely new player out there ever since Bracketbuster weekend. Scored 14 points (all in the second half), pulled down six boards, dished three assists, and even had a block.
• Marvin Jean's 10 rebounds, four assists, a steal, and a block are all pretty good looking. His 1-8 shooting is not. He badly needs to find his shot again because he can be a major X-factor going into next week if he gets hot.

SENIOR NIGHT - KYISEAN REED

It was heart-wrenching to have to bid farewell to this team's lone senior without him being able to suit up. It was the second year in a row too that a senior wasn't able to play because of injury. But for what it's worth, it looked like Kyisean was smiling for a lot of the game, and just seemed to be happy to be there with his teammates.

Everything about this dude just bleeds character. Whether it's how far he developed his game from last season to this one, to the reports of how good a student he has been at USU, there's nothing you could not like about this guy.

We'll be left to only wonder forever how much different this season could have been with him for these last couple months, and how special a moment there might have been if he'd thrown down one last high-flying dunk on his senior night.

Basketball aside, dude is going places in life. And even though his time was cut way too short, I know I'm not alone when I say I'm damn proud that Kyisean Reed is an Aggie!

Player of the Game: Ben Clifford

With 11 first-half points, it looked like Ben Clifford would finally break his previous career-high of 14 points. Turns out he shattered that, going off for 21 points to go with eight boards, three assists, and three blocks. All-around great game from him, but maybe most impressive was the ways in which he scored. Posting up, finishing on a fast break, hitting mid-range jumpers; all of it was a showing of how dangerous he can be as a player. He may never be a superstar, but he's been pretty steadily dependable through two full regular seasons now, and it looks like these major minutes he's been playing will really pay off down the road.

Aggies load up the statsheet for win No. 20

After that abysmal showing against Arlington last week that not even I could bear to write about, USU bounced the hell back on Thursday against probably the WAC's worst team. And even though Texas State is a total patsy, the Aggies pretty thoroughly dominated them, which is what they needed to do in this one.

The finish by USU pretty damn awful, but that's sort of tradition when the Aggies have a late lead. It seems like if the team is down big, they're the ones making the strong push late, and if they're up big, all basketball ability seems to vacate.

A win is a win though, and some of the numbers put up are pretty encouraging. Let's bullet point the rest.

Let's never talk about this night again...

This song seems to have the kind of somber feel that is going on right now... So if you care for music while you read, click ---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tj75Arhq5ho

If any Aggie fans told themselves at any point recently that it couldn't possibly get worse, the universe just delivered them a hearty bitch slap.

From the start, USU wasn't in this game. The eternal optimist in me hoped that maybe they could climb out of a massive hole much like they did back in a 2007 game against Oral Roberts to pull off a hard-earned win against the odds.

Bracketbuster Saturday brings out Aggies' best

It's somewhat becoming a trend that post game write-ups from those Saturday games are going to come around much later than others. That whole "Saturday night" thing just gets in the way. You know how it goes.

But how about them Aggies, eh?

More and more these guys are looking like a strong, determined, cohesive unit. The kind the could catch some fire and shock somebody come WAC Tournament time. The weak points of this team seem to be shrinking, while the strengths are getting stronger.

And Saturday's game against Illinois State might have been the best example of it all yet this year. As has often been the case since this became an eight-man team, these guys won by playing pure Stew Morrill basketball. Good shooting, tough defense, sharing the ball, etc.

Aggies beaten at the buzzer again.

SHIT!!!

Not much else needs to be said.

Missed 3-pointers, missed free throws, and too many turnovers cost the Aggies their first win in Provo since the 2004-05 season.

NOTES

• Officiating took all the fun out of this game for quite a while. In their defense, both teams were playing aggressive as hell. A lot of those fouls were legit, and plenty other were very weak. It put guys from both teams in major foul trouble, which is a huge disadvantage for USU being pretty much a seven-man team right now. 51 total fouls called... It was annoying.
• Giving up an offensive rebound to give BYU that final possession is inexcusable. Should have been the Aggies looking to get off a shot in that spot.
• Jordan Stone was an absolute man out there. Easily the best he's looked in his career, scoring nine points, grabbing three rebounds, dishing two assists, and blocking four shots. Just as important, he never looked nervous or out of control with the ball.
• There's plenty of good and bad on the stat lines for both Spencer Butterfield and Marvin Jean. On the bright side, the combined for 32 points, 18 rebounds, and nine assists. Down side is 4-16 shooting from deep, and eight turnovers. All things considered, they played well. Certainly well enough to win, but the defense by BYU was in their faces in to make things difficult.
• Speaking of turnovers, 18 on the game is bad. In games of this caliber, you can't do that and expect to win. Way too many of them can as a result of taking unnecessary risks too. That's got to be fixed by the WAC Tournament if this upset special has a chance of happening.
• Jarred Shaw vs. Brandon Davies was one of the big storylines going into this one. Shaw won that battle without question.
• USU shooting 17-27 from the free throw line is the difference maker in this game. If they had just made 74 percent of their free throws, USU wins.
• Marcel Davis needed to be more of a factor in this one. For how well he's been playing, it's tough to hold much of anything against him. Zero assists though is at least a tiny bit troubling.
• Tyler Haws just seems to be a whiny little bitch. Dude is incredibly talented, but just seems to be all-around unlikeable. I was never able to say the same about that other high-scoring guard who's playing for the Kings now, at least not based on my limited interaction with him via front row heckling.
• In maybe the biggest bit of irony of all time, BYU students chanted "Rogain" at an opposing player... In other words, fuck them and their bubble.
  
• All things considered, it's a hell of a fight put up by the Aggies. No moral victories though. USU should have won this one in Provo. Second loss at the buzzer in a week is brutal too.

Shaw plays the role of the warden. Good Aggies win!

Rivalry games... Gotta love em!

There's just something about that feeling of pure hate when you see that opposing team even warming up. It's like a whole new reminder of what you despise when you finally see them in person. Then it seems like pretty much everything they do just pisses you off more.

But a 19-5 lead can quickly turn all anger into joy, and that's what Utah State built early against New Mexico State. Then things suddenly took a swing into NMSU's favor, and it seemed to coincide with when Sim Bhullar went to the bench. After Jarred Shaw established early on that he was going to attack Bhullar down low and make him respect the mid-range jumper as well, Bhullar was largely ineffective. Shaw's mobility was the biggest advantage (outside of actual talent) that he had over Bhullar, and that was the difference maker in the paint.

Really outside of that run NMSU made following the 19-5 lead and the last minute of the second half, the Good Aggies never really seemed to lack total control of this game. They moved the ball well, shot well, limited turnovers, were aggressive while staying out of foul trouble... Pretty much everything a team needs to do to win against a bigger, faster opponent.

I only say "pretty much" because of how bad that last minute of play was for USU. I can't imagine managing that all any worse than they did. Tenale Roland looked like he was completely unaware of the 10-second rule, dribbling backwards more often than forward. And the team as a whole was way too content to just hold on to the ball in the face of a trap. And then the one time they get it up court, it ends up in the hands of Jordan Stone, sending him to the free throw line for the front-end of a 1-and-1 (which you could guess how that one ended up).

Valentine's Day heartbreak in overtime

The Valentine's Day heartbreaker

My biggest compliment about Utah State's play in the last few games is that they've been playing tough defense, efficient offense, and really just all-around Stew Ball.

Denver does all those things too though, and their team is healthy, so we knew this was going to be a tough one.

To Utah State's credit, there were a handful of times where it looked like this game was on the verge of getting away from them, but the Aggies manned up and kept it within reach.

REGULATION ENDING
The Aggies gave themselves plenty of chances to come out winners tonight. Most of those chances came at the free throw line, and unfortunately, they struggled pretty badly from there.

A-train keeps rolling at San Jose State

Hey look! A picture of a train!

This one was never even close...

For the past few games now, USU is playing pure Stew Ball. The Aggies are shooting great from the field, keeping opponents' field goal percentages down, and even cutting down on turnovers quite a bit from where they've been for the bulk of this year.

The end result? A team who many would criticize as being undersized and athletically inferior going out and dominating teams that might look better on paper. Stew Ball at it's finest.

If you're not falling madly in love with this team right now, I'm not sure you'll ever be satisfied

63-36, final.

Up next is the biggest weekend of games of the year, with the roadie to BYU coming up after that. Let's just go ahead and call these next three games "The Reckoning".

Aggies dominate at Seattle!

For the second game in a row, Utah State was pretty much completely in control over a team that took the healthy version of this team to the wire in The Spectrum.

In a nutshell, this team looks to have found its way. They're playing together, they're more focused, they're playing tough defense... It's coming together for them!

Earning a Sweep Dance given the situation this team is in is nothing short of impressive. Doing it as convincingly as they've done it is nothing short of bad ass. Thinking of what they can do with the way they're playing is nothing short of exciting.

Above all else, I'm in love with this team right now!

Slump busted. Aggies roll at Idaho!

Memo to the Idaho Vandals: He is Jarred Shaw and you are not.

Last time against Idaho, a (mostly) healthy USU team needed an epic comeback and overtime to pull off a win at home. With that in mind, one would think that this game on the road was a blowout waiting to happen, especially when you consider that Preston Medlin and Kyisean Reed combined for 39 points in that game.

No blowout for the Vandals on Thursday. Never even a lead for the home team. Utah State never trailed in this game, riding some stellar shooting and solid defense to the team's first win since the injury assault.

And no player was more crucial to that than Shaw! Going into the game, many might have argued that Idaho's Kyle Barone was the WAC's best big man. Anyone who watched that game would probably argue differently now.

Gone is the longest losing streak of Stew Morrill's tenure, and to add to it, the rest of this team has a quality win under its belt. If they earn themselves a sweep dance this weekend, they just might earn themselves a nickname. I know the "Elite Eight" has been thrown out there, even if it's a little over-complimentary. Also heard "The UnderAgs", which I like. "Eight Men Out" is one that comes to mind too. But we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Seattle gave plenty of fits to USU at home too, so we need an encore performance by the man in the middle against them.

For now, proud as hell of this team for finally getting a win through this storm they've been weathering. This underdog role is something none of us are really familiar with, but these guys are playing their asses off to make each game interesting, so seeing them come out with a win and representing USU is pretty damn excellent!

Last men standing still learning to walk

No words could do justice to this dude's excellence

What’s left of this basketball team hasn’t exactly had an easy road to find their legs. Their first game involved getting thrown into the fire on the road against Denver, who is one of the WAC’s best this year. UT-Arlington is in that discussion as well, while La Tech seems firmly established as the team to beat.

The 0-3 result is obviously the last thing you want, but the progress they’ve shown is at least encouraging. They put together a decent 2^nd half at Denver, showed some encouraging intensity against UTA, and now took the best team in the WAC to the wire.

Again, 0-3 in these games is tough to swallow, but these guys sure as hell are putting up a ballsy fight to make it interesting.

Much like UTA, La Tech is a good defensive team. They’re athletic and they’ve got some length to make things especially difficult for a USU team trying to learn how to walk all over again. That defensive pressure resulted in only 15 made field goals by USU. But as bad as that was offensively for the Aggies, they still managed to hold the Bulldogs to only 19-of-57 shooting from the field. That kind of defensive pressure is going to have to be commonplace for wins to start coming for these guys.

When it came to crunch time though, the Aggies didn’t have the kind of magic they’d had against the likes of Santa Clara and Idaho.

Aggies have no magic against the Mavericks

Welp... If there was going to be a reason to hold strong to any optimism of the Aggies making something special of this injury tidal wave, it was going to have to show itself Thursday against UT-Arlington.

That optimism is mostly dead now. A win on Saturday could possibly be the Mike Williams to this season's Danny Berger, but after the consistent struggles against Denver and now UTA, not looking all that promising.

The problem at this point is that a few teams have exposed even the healthy version of this team to be very turnover prone if you play high-pressure man-to-man defense. The ball handling gets hectic, timing of the offense is all thrown off, passes get picked off, and nobody for the life of them can finish around the basket!

Credit to UTA for playing some balls-out defense all night. Any decent window to shoot was closed out on almost immediately by the quickness of the Mavericks. Either that, or whoever might have been looking for a pass had a defender draped all over him, rarely drawing a foul call.

Make no mistake, the Aggies got beat in this game. There was some absolute shitballs officiating, but a few rather poor calls went USU's way. And at the very least, they were at least somewhat consistently shitty, in which case it's got to fall somewhat on the players to adjust to that. When your former top 150 recruit of a center and junior college all-American point guard shoot a combined 3-19 from the field, that's what will cost you games. Getting crushed in the second half in rebounds like the Aggies did will also do it. And being -7 in turnovers won't help your case either.

I'd harp on the USU bench (i.e. Jordan Stone) getting outscored by UTA's B-team 25-6, but that's not really fair considering the Aggies don't really have a bench anymore.

INTENSITY
Sloppy and frustrating as much of Thursday's play was, the intensity and hustle shown by the team cannot go unmentioned. They at least wanted it, and wanted it badly. They just didn't come through when it came time to execute. At this point in the season, we're used to teams executing things very well, and for whatever reason that's not the case.

Still, that kind of hustle will win a few games. Hell, it'll even make a few games we shouldn't win a lot more interesting. A big shot or two mixed in with a defensive stop or two down the stretch in this game, and we'd all be talking about how great a win this was and the fight this team has in them.

Like I said before, bounce back from this with a win over La Tech, and maybe we'll still have a shred of hope for this season ending on some kind of memorable note.

NOTES

• Spencer Butterfield is all that is man! Despite the loss, he clearly stepped up as the guy willing to put the team on his back, or at least what's left of the team. 23 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, and two steals, all while shooting well from the field gives at least a little comfort that someone is ready to try and fill some big shoes.
• Not really having anything positive to write about Ben Clifford for the first half of the season was tough on me. Thursday, he was who I'd hoped he'd be this season. He shot the ball well to the tune of 12 points, while also pulling down nine rebounds and blocking four shots. If his high-energy play can produce points on a consistent basis, we'll be able to hang in a handful of games.
• If Jarred Shaw had the motor that Clifford had, we'd probably hang around in every game still. Ever since a dominant start to the season though, Shaw seems to have leveled off quite a bit. He could not finish around the basket for the life of him again UTA, and I can't think of any reason why he should have the second fewest rebounds on the team in a game. He's still showing brief flashes of trying to be more physical offensively, but nothing consistent yet.
• Has any true freshman ever had more asked of them than Marcel Davis? (Jaycee Carroll doesn't count. He was an RM as a freshman, not an 18-year-old). Davis has been great in a handful of games this year, but recently has very much hit the freshman wall. Part of the credit goes to the lockdown defense played on him by UTA, but he's also missed some shots he was hitting consistently a few weeks ago. This team badly needs him to return to his December form. I imagine it's got to be a whole lot to handle for the kid though.
• Marvin Jean loves to chuck up long 3-pointers... And you know what? Power to him! He's been hitting them with consistency. He's got a quick release, isn't rattled by collapsing defenders, nor is he shy about just pulling up on a guy. He hasn't shown really anything else offensively, but he also hasn't really needed to. Maybe he's still got some surprises up his sleeve, but regardless, his game has been solid since the injuries set it.
• As for the bench... Jordan Stone had an alright game. He made one really nice move and shot for a score early in the game, but also fumbled a couple Marcel Davis passes that could, and should have been easy scores. I thought Matt Lopez played better than only deserving eight minutes on the floor. Especially with Shaw and Clifford in foul trouble like they were. And Tenale Roland... Seems to be doing at least a little of everything but scoring. This team NEEDS him to be able to be at least a shred of a scoring threat who can hit an occasional 3-pointer.

Medlin's 25 points propel Aggies to 13th straight

Look at it... People all the way to the top!!!
It's beautiful...

It was an ugly win, yada, yada, yada... But what else is new?

Neither team really put together any big runs in the game, with the biggest being a seven-point run by USU I believe. And I think that was pretty early on too. Or in other words, that game was kinda boring as hell.

San Jose State played some tough defense, which really put the pressure on USU to score the ball. The Spartans also put back an infuriatingly ridiculous amount of put-back shots that just barely rolled into the basket... I don't think I was the only one getting pissed off about that. They beat USU 14-6 in offensive rebounds.

In the closing minutes, there seemed to be a little nervousness that SJSU might make a dramatic late push, but luckily the USU defense held strong.

Can't help but wonder how things would have gone if James Kinney wasn't suspended from SJSU. Regardless, the team is now 14-1 overall, 5-0 in the WAC, won 13 straight, and riding at least a little momentum going into the roadie at New Mexico State. 

THE CROWD
EASILY the best turnout of the season! Really it's not even close either. And what's better is that early on, at least as the team was taking the floor and to start the game, they seemed to be ready to rock.

Headlines from around AggieLand

With all kinds of holiday cheer going around, time to write hasn't exactly been abundant. But hey! The holidays are over now, so we can finally get caught up on everything!

Let's talk some of the recent headlines...

BASKETBALL BEATS TEXAS STATE 81-57
Welp... They really stuck it to me as far as that whole "cohesion" thing is concerned. The team got some chemistry going for them to the tune of 21 assists on Monday night. Spencer Butterfield was responsible for nine of those, going nicely with his 18 points and six rebounds. There's your player of the game right there.

Preston Medlin was dynamite once again too though, scoring 21 points, including five 3-pointers. he also had six rebounds in the game. Medlin is now fully dominating offensively like most people expected him to do. He's averaging 21 points per game over the last four contests and has hit on 15-of-31 attempts from behind the 3-point line.

Refreshing to see the team with 10 steals too when they haven't been forcing tons of turnovers just yet. Free throws are apparently still a big concern though.

Regardless, the team is now 2-0 in WAC play, which is a solid start to have. Now they've got two weeks and three home games to come together a bit more before the next road tests at New Mexico State and at Denver.

Oh, and they've won 10 in a row now... Maybe come out and see this team?

SHAVER AND BOUKNIGHT STAYING ON FOOTBALL STAFF
One would think that we'll really start hearing more about coaching hires now that the holidays are over and bowl games are wrapping up. Still, we got a little bit of news late last week with the announcements that coaches Jovon Bouknight and Kendrick Shaver will be staying on staff at Utah State under new head coach Matt Wells.

Another ugly one, but Aggies win again

There's that old saying that says, "You've gotta slay a few dragons before you can finally rescue the princess." Put plainly, it's referring to hooking up with girls you wouldn't brag to anyone about before eventually finding that one gem to settle down with.

That's how I'm hoping things are going for this Aggie basketball team right now. They just keep knocking out these ugly victories, but eventually things are going to get a whole lot prettier.

In their defense, last year the team was losing a handful of these ugly games. To be 10-1, even if you haven't really tackled any titans, is still a very good record to be sitting on. Much like my feeling was prior to the Gossner's tournament, this team still looks like a group of very talented basketball players who have yet to really come together as a cohesive unit.

They've shown flashes, and I don't think I was alone in hoping that the win against Southern Illinois would be a sign of better things to come. That very well could be the case still and they just had another struggle on the road. Again though, 3-0 on the road now. That's something to be happy about, especially since one of those was against a Santa Clara team who hung around against the No. 1 team in the country over at Cameron Indoor on Saturday morning.

Aggies ride strong second half to beat UC Davis

Thursday the Aggies had a big lead to start the second half and saw their opponent slowly chip away to make it a game.

Friday was the opposite. UC Davis went into halftime leading 40-39, but in the second half, Utah State took back the lead and slowly widened it as time rolled on.

It was still an ugly game for the most part, but I dare say it was at least a little bit better looking than Thursday's affair. The key to Friday's win was Preston Medlin stepping up as the offensive weapon we all know he is, breaking the 20-point barrier for the first time this season. Maybe more importantly, he looked like he had that assassin's mentality once again.

It's funny how a slump can weigh down on you, no matter how capable of playing better you know yourself to be. But once that slump is broken, everything feels comfortable all over again. That's what it looked like after Medlin really got things going offensively in the first half. It seemed like he knew that if he forced the action on UC Davis, that points would end up on the board.

Sure enough, he went off for 23 of them on 9-17 shooting, while also tying for the team-lead in assists with four. And with Jarred Shaw having his first down game of the season, it was perfect timing for Medlin to step up with a big game like that.

Not a ton else to say about this game outside of its ugliness, Medlin's big night, and maybe mention that in that second half the team looked for flashes like they were starting to mesh some more. We saw a lot of that against Western Oregon, but the chemistry seems to be taking its time this season.

Sloppy sloppy sloppy, but Aggies hold on

The optimist in me says, "This is what's nice about the Gossner's Tournament. Get some quality experience at home against teams you should beat even on a crappy night."

The pessimist says, "This team is still struggling way worse than they should, and doubts are starting to arise."

I can't help but think back to last year when we opened the Gossner's against UT-Arlington, only beating them by four. By the last game of the tournament, we beat the piss out of a very good Kent State team.

And that was last year's team, who I doubt many people will try to argue had more talent on its roster than this year's squad. Throw in some actual size down low, some more talent and experience on the wings, and a pair of point guards who are both not too shabby, and there's probably reason to stay optimistic.

Mid-Monday musings: 11/12

Sounds like someone has a case of the Mondays...

Since this week is going to explode with storylines in the next few days between the basketball game against Saint Mary's, the WAC Super Bowl at Louisiana Tech on Saturday, all wrapped up with another basketball game Saturday night, let's keep things brief for today.


MORE VOTES IN THE FOOTBALL POLLS
This week Utah State jumped up to 20 votes in the coaches poll and stood at four votes in the AP poll. With La Tech squeaking out its win on Saturday to stay ranked, a win on the road for Utah State, over a ranked team should just about ensure the Aggies' inclusion in next week's top 25 polls. Not a slam dunk, but very likely. All that's left is to take care of business.


LA TECH'S LAST THREE WEEKS
Nobody in their right mind was impressed with La Tech's win over Texas State. Against a team that USU had destroyed by halftime, the Bulldogs let this one go just about down to the wire. And it's not the first time Tech has struggled with a team USU blew out the previous week. In fact it's the third week in a row.

An ugly win is still a win... 56-48, Aggies

Nobody said winning had to be pretty, and Saturday night in The Spectrum sure as well was an ugly one! I want to tell myself that this game was just the slumpbreaker that USU needed to get its game back on track after a rough go last season. Just like I want to believe that winning a few postseason games last year, even if it was in the lowly CIT, was beneficial just to shake that monkey off our backs.

And since the team stands at 1-0, ugly as that one might have been, I'll stick with the slumpbreaker theory and hold on to the hope that things only get prettier from here.

For the bulk of Saturday's game, the Utah State offense was out of sync. And while that's nothing out of the ordinary for a team early in the season, it kind of seemed to be even more out of sync than we'd normally see to start things off.

Defensively though, USU managed to make up for just enough of the offensive woes to keep Idaho State out of it for the bulk of the game. The Bengals only hit on 39.6 percent of their shot attempts from the field, and just 27.3 percent from the 3-point line. The Aggies also outrebounded ISU 36-23, had seven steals and three blocks.

So when the Bengals had only scored 37 points with just under 10 minutes remaining in the second half, that'll usually be a solid enough defensive game for the Aggies to hold on and win... Except that the offense was only at 37 at that same point. USU scored just seven points through the first 10 minutes of the second half, which is as bad of an offensive cold streak as I can remember seeing here.